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How do you save money?

I'd like to do an episode on cheapskate caching. What do you do to save money? What are some good strategies if you don't want to be a Premium member at gc.com? You can answer in this post, leave voicemail at 333-8651, email me an MP3 file, or let me interview you!

Geocaching is becoming a very expensive sport simply because of price of gas. Other then getting together and carpooling to caches I don't know of any other way of saving money. I could do caches on my bike, especially in the cities. But you still have to get to the city and that's where most of the mileage would be. If I take my bike to Portland it's a 300 hundred mile trip there and back. How much would I save by riding around the city on a bike? Once the caches in your immediate area are done, it becomes very hard to walk or bike to any others.

My answer so far has been not doing other things that cost me money.I don't snowmobile or fourwheel. Don't own a boat, go fishing or hunting any more. I ride my bike, hike and kayak locally. Save my money for gas on the weekends. How long I can justify this in my mind, is only a guess. We all know we shouldn't be spending any money to support the corporate greed that is going on in this world we live in. But when we stop enjoying ourselves altogether...who wins?

One way that we save money sometimes is bring a lunch for the day with drinks so that you arent stopping to buy it all the time. And sometime head for the largest cache density so to elimate much of the driving.

For active cachers, not spending money on a Geocaching.com membership is like driving across town to save a penny a gallon on gas.

How you pay for gas makes a difference, too. We use a credit card that pays us 5% back on all purchases at gas stations, drug stores and supermarkets. As long as you pay the balance on your credit card each month, that can add up to REAL savings.

cache density

Originally Posted by dave1976

And sometime head for the largest cache density so to elimate much of the driving.

No matter the reason, be it the numbers, the sense of getting more for the buck, or whatever, this is todays trend in our sport. I've talked to a number of cachers lately, and have witness this myself, who put out caches in an area without other caches around and after the FTF no one comes. I know that when I leave Abbot on a caching trip I'm looking for density or at least caches on a route or loop. Will we one day be doing only LPC's and GRC's in Wallyworlds across the country? Maybe virtual caching on google earth, zoom in, rotate, tilt, write a log entry and send it into cyber space.

I'd like to do an episode on cheapskate caching. What do you do to save money? What are some good strategies if you don't want to be a Premium member at gc.com? You can answer in this post, leave voicemail at 333-8651, email me an MP3 file, or let me interview you!

Saving money? LOL. I cache because I enjoy it. Money is always a concern but I don't really think of ways to economize geocaching as it is a "luxury" to be able to go (GPSr, ammo boxes, swag, backpacks, appropriate clothing, gas etc. etc.). That is not to say that I'm not always looking for a deal but my real concerns are economizing my fuel oil, the price I'm willing to pay for a car, groceries (generic vs. brand name), medical bill, dentist etc. etc. but as far as worrying about how to get the most caches out of a dollar that seems kind of absurd in the scheme of things. I understand the question and the validity and there is no question that you will get some thrifty geocachers to respond but if an individual is concerned about the cost of geocaching then that individual maybe should consider refraining from going or at least limiting their geocaching adventures. I also think to get an accurate answer to your question you have to ask what is the "type" of cache that the individual perfers. Are the numbers more important than the location? The answers to these last two questions are personal to the individual and there is no wrong answer but to accurately gauge "cost savings" we would have to understand what the individuals consider a "value." That way each person could apply the answers given to their own personal geocaching expectations. I spent alot of dollars to get only 3 geocaches in Australia but to me they were a good value.

Traveling to a "high cache" density area sounds like a way to get the most caches per dollar but personally I think doing 1 or 2 hiking caches is a better value than 15 or 20 GRC or LPC. I'm not downplaying or condemning the LPC or GRC as they are truly part of geocaching but from my perspective I would be willing to spend more money to do a mountain top cache than I would to do a downtown Waterville cache. Although I think I'd be willing to spend more money to do some downtown caching in Toronto or London. :-)

Cache on!!

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.~~Albert Einstein

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Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest.- Sam Levenson (1911 - 1980)